Technology Applications in the Assessment of Children's Language

ABSTRACT

Technology can assist both standardized and nonstandardized language assessment. Standardized test records can be rapidly and accurately scored, and the potential exists for entirely computerized test administration. Sounds and images can be captured and then played or displayed on a computer, creating stimulus sets that elicit language for nonstandardized analysis. Clinician learning of linguistic principles and methods can be enhanced through software that offers systematic practice and corrective feedback. Once analytical skill is acquired, language assessment can be facilitated with software for evaluating a child's level of development and linguistic productivity in the subsystems of grammar, semantic relations, vocabulary, narrative, and prosody. The basic operations performed by language analysis software are tallying and searching of codes. However, in different programs those codes may result entirely from human user input or they may result from codes partly generated by intelligent software.

KEY WORDS

computer-assisted - language assessment - language sampling